New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA is projected to win 119 seats, three short of the magic mark of 122 in the 243-member Bihar assembly, says the India TV-CVoter pre-poll survey, results of which were telecast

New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA is projected to win 119 seats, three short of the magic mark of 122 in the 243-member Bihar assembly, says the India TV-CVoter pre-poll survey, results of which were telecast on the channel tonight.

The grand alliance forged by RJD, Janata Dal(U) and Congress in Bihar is projected to win 116 seats, three less than NDA's tally, says the pre-poll survey. Eight seats may go to 'Others'.

The NDA, comprising BJP, LJP, RLSP and HAM, has been projected to get 43 per cent vote share, compared to 41 pc vote share of Lalu-Nitish-Sonia alliance, says the pre-poll survey.

The first stage of polling will take place in Bihar on October 12.

C-Voter said, the projections are based on a methodology based on random stratified sample of 9,916 interviews covering all 243 segments in Bihar during the period from last week of September till the first week of October. Margin of error is plus/minus 3 per cent at state level and plus/minus 5 pc at regional level, C-Voter said.

In the 2010 Bihar assembly polls, the then BJP-JD(U) alliance had won 206 seats, while Lalu Prasad's RJD-led alliance with Paswan could win only 25 seats. However, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA comprising BJP, Ramvilas Paswan's LJP and Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP won in 174 assembly segments, while the Lalu-Nitish combine could win only in 51 assembly segments in the face of Modi wave.

A whopping 73.3 per cent of the respondents said there should be a nationwide ban on sale of beef, while 25.9 pc opposed it.

According to the pre-poll survey, 73.3 per cent respondents blamed the rhetoric of politicians to be the reason behind heating up the beef-related issue, while 17.7 pc blamed news channels and 6.3 pc blamed the social media.

Asked how they saw the ongoing controversy related to beef, a whopping 61.4 pc agreed that the issue was related to politics and election, while only 18.7 pc said the issue related to emotions, 6.9 pc said it was related to culture, and 9.2 pc said the issue was related to patriotism.

Asked which was the biggest issue for the voters, 17.9 pc said unemployment, 12.7 pc said power cuts, while 25 pc respondents said 'can't say'.

Asked which party can solve these problems in a better manner, 44.7 per cent opted for NDA, while 38.6 pc favoured the RJD-JD(U)-Congress grand alliance. 16.6 pc respondents said: 'others'.